Back on Earth
by Majinie
Summary: Ianto is back on Earth and had things gone according to plan, he'd be getting up now and walking out of the shabby park he landed in, but there's still the minor problem of his leg bleeding everywhere and surely closing his eyes for a minute can't hurt, can it? [Hints of Janto.]


_Set after the Big Finish audiobook "Fall to Earth", so it won't make much sense to anyone who hasn't listened to that. Also, Jack got a little weird, I don't even know. He just wrote himself._

Ianto stared up at the sky, parachute spread out on the ground around him and his limbs splayed out on the warm grass. He had dropped the phone a few metres away during his landing and now couldn't muster up the energy to move – oh, he would, just... not right now. He thought he deserved a moment; also, the pain in his leg had become a lot more bearable, which was weird, because he'd landed on it and remembered screaming because _that_ had definitely hurt. Everything was becoming a little grey around the edges in general, it probably had to do with that.

Right, he was still losing blood. There was that. He should probably do something about that, but that would mean moving and he really didn't feel like that right now. Moving could wait. Everything could wait. Ianto thought he deserved a break.

With a quiet sigh, he closed his eyes.

He came to when he felt someone fiddling with the straps of his parachute and instinctively raised a hand to swat the offending person away while he mustered up the will power to take a look. He frowned up at bright blue eyes.

"Wha' are you doin' here?" His voice sounded slurred even to his own ears.

"Well," Jack replied, "the craziest thing happened to me today. You know, there's a Rift spike popping up in Turkey of all places so a few days ago, I decide to investigate, right? And I spend a bit of time there and I don't find any alien tech, but a whiff of something else that seems a little fishy so I think _oh Jack, why don't you go and have a look at that, it might be interesting_. So I stay and take a look. And then, the next thing I know, there's a spaceship crashing down on the place I was investigating and that cute call centre person runs up to me, asking whether I work for the FBI and I miss my butler."

"Ah," Ianto made and then bit his lip to keep it from turning into a scream as Jack brushed against the blood-soaked fabric of his slacks. "How's Harkness Industries going?"

"Fantastic. Bit blown up, but apart from that, fine."

"Ah," the tea boy slash sky butler repeated. "That's good, then."

"Yup," Jack responded as he wrapped an arm around Ianto to move him into a sitting position. This time, Ianto _did_ scream and squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to look at the makeshift tourniquet wrapped around his leg, made of his tie and some elastic straps from a suitcase. "So is this your idea of taking a day off?" the Captain asked conversationally.

"Holidays in Turkey," Ianto answered, his voice tight with pain. "Thought it'd be a nice change of scenery. They had a lovely workshop for parachute jumping into the city centre, all the kids do it. Ten out of ten, would recommend."

Jack chuckled and mumbled an "I see" that was somewhere between amused and concerned. "Can you stand?"

"No," Ianto moaned dramatically. "Leave me here to die. It's too late for me. I can hear the angels singing."

"I take it you're fine," the Captain commented drily. "Alright, come on, let's get you out of here."

He took Ianto's arm, wrapped it around his shoulders and hoisted him up onto his feet; Ianto passed out with the sound of his own pained cry in his ears.

***

"That was fucking stupid," Jack greeted him when he woke up. Ianto groaned and blinked against the dim light; white walls, white bed sheets, he was even wearing something white – for a moment, he entertained the thought that Jack might finally have locked him up in an asylum, but then he noticed the IV drip in his arm and glanced over at the man on his bedside.

"You were," he began weakly, then cleared his throat. With a sigh that was caught somewhere between fond and exasperated, Jack handed him a glass of water from the bedside table and Ianto accepted it gratefully, taking a few swallows before he tried to speak again: "You weren't supposed to find out this way."

"Oh?" Jack raised his eyebrows, leaning back in the plastic visitor's chair with his arms crossed. "Do tell me more." Ianto grimaced as he tried to move into a more upright position; he seemed to be on painkillers because the pain in his leg had been reduced to a dull ache, but he felt dizzy and Jack had him pressed back into the mattress before he'd gotten far. The tea boy's protest was cut off when his boss reached behind the bed and handed him a remote. "There you go."

"Thanks," he muttered while he moved the bed into an upright position. "Beds with remotes. Oh, how I love hospitals."

Jack got a contemplating look in his eyes. "You know, I dated that nurse once who would –"

"Yes, thank you," Ianto interrupted, "but I'm not sure I wanna know while I'm still in this bed. Is there any sort of job field you _haven't_ dated anyone in?"

"Never dated a doctor before," the Captain responded and then chuckled as if he'd made some sort of private joke. "You didn't answer my question though. What the hell were you doing on that spaceship?"

"Feeling very scared?" Ianto joked weakly. Before Jack could comment, he elaborated: "Well, you were gone to god knows where – Turkey, apparently – and I found that weird stuff about Salt and it really seemed like he had to do something with the whole thing. Also, there was something off about the flight and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get near him." His eyes widened and he reached under the blanket to pat his pockets, which the hospital gown didn't even have. "The –"

"I've got the flash drive," Jack interrupted, reaching into the pocket of the greatcoat that was draped over his chair. "Took a look at it while you were out of it and there's pretty much everything we need on there."

Ianto cocked his head, raised an eyebrow with a wry little grin. " _Why, thank you, Ianto_ ," he said in a flat American accent. "Oh, you're very welcome, Jack, anytime."

" _I might even tell you beforehand next time, Jack_ ," the Captain retorted and Ianto grimaced.

"Never try to imitate my accent again. I think my ears just started bleeding."

"Your try wasn't much better," Jack replied sullenly, but with poorly disguised humour in his voice. "I meant it, though. Why didn't you _tell_ anyone you'd be here?"

"Well, _you_ weren't there and Tosh and Owen were busy, so I thought..." Ianto trailed off with a shrug. He'd pictured the whole thing a little different – without having to be rescued, for one, and striding back into the Hub to set the flash drive casually down on Jack's desk next to his coffee. "Thought it might not hurt," he finished lamely.

Jack glanced pointedly down at his leg. "No, what could possibly happen," he responded drily.

For a few moments, they were both silent and Ianto looked out of the window, watching the city being plunged into darkness. He had apparently slept through the afternoon, but he already felt exhausted again; it seemed to be a thing with hospitals, they always made him feel so bloody tired. Maybe it was the remaining stress of the day, too.

He still needed to text Zeynep as well, at least thank her for her assistance. He wanted to meet her, even if it was just once.

"I'm coming to pick you up tomorrow afternoon," Jack broke the silence eventually. "I already got everything covered, we're officially transferring you into doctor Owen Harper's care."

Ianto nodded without looking at the Captain. "Alright. Thanks."

"Sure."

He heard Jack getting up, the rustling of fabric that was undoubtedly the coat being pulled on, and then the other's steps approaching the door before it clicked open. The steps halted.

"Oh, and Ianto?"

"Yes?"

"Well done."

Two days later with Ianto back in Cardiff and everything back to normal (or as normal as it ever got with Torchwood), Jack frowned at the sheet he had just taken off the stack of paperwork on his desk.

"Ianto?" he called out. "Since when do we have pet insurance for Myfanwy?"


End file.
